Worshipping Shiva

The Shiva Linga is a very common sight in India and also now worshipped by several foreigners visiting India. The chant Om Namah Shivaya, Jai Bholenath, Alak Niranjan, etc are some chants to remember Shiva.

I too worship Shiva. My mother taught me from when I was young that Shiva is the Lord of the Universe. I recollect an experience at a time when I was 4 or 5 years of age. We were staying in a rented accommodation. I am raised as a Tamil speaking Iyer family. Our neighbour whom our family had befriended were Tamil speaking Iyengar family.

One day, while all other members of our family were out and my mother was in the shower, I sneaked out the back door and went to the Iyengar house. I saw the uncle placing on his forehead a read streak. It glistened so beautifully that I asked him to place one streak on my forehead as well. He hesitated and told me that my parents wouldn't approve of it. I insisted, and until the end did not get it.

During my short stay on that day, I asked him, who is the lord of the Universe? And he promptly told me, It is Narayana. I was surprised. I was told it was Shiva. So, I ran back home, sneaked in the back door.

My mother was still in the shower. I banged the bathroom door and told mum what I had heard. She was scared for what reason, I do not know! She yelled from inside; Don't go to that house!

Forty years later, I still remember the incident as if it happened yesterday, only because, I needed an answer to this question as to who or what is Shiva. So, my search has lead me to this perspective I am sharing with you.

The centre of our forehead has a point called Bindu. This Bindu is a point vibrating at a certain frequency. Its consistent. This frequency has always been there from even before time manifested. This is the sound of silence. When the first thought arrived, this frequency shifted for an instant and a Universe was born. This Universe is my creation. I am responsible for it. Within this Universe is born all the characters I see, hear, feel, sense, touch and taste. Everything is present within this Universe I have created. And I created it, not today, but when I first manifested as a life-form. And I have been carrying it with me since, continuing to create names, forms and experiences within this Universe.

I seek out this Universe every night in my sleep and organise it, resolving what I don't need and reinforce thoughts, feelings, emotions, beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, attributes, tendencies, choices, judgments and decisions I have taken. All action and reaction have been and are happening within this Universe.

During my life on this earth, I am living only in and through this Universe I have created.

The Oval Shiva Linga is a representation of this Universe which seemingly does not have a beginning or an end. The Snake's hood on the Linga, is my awareness towards the Universe. The Universe is maintained by Karma. Karma, the action-reaction drama, is happening all the time. So, who am I?

Worshipping the Shiva Linga means, to me, that the Universe is my creation and I have created this for my ultimate learning that I AM, is the ALL LOVING, ALL INCLUSIVE AND THE ALL POWERFUL. And the Snake's hood is the Awareness, I AM, THE ABSOLUTE WITNESS CONSCIOUSNESS, that is unmoved by the Universe and its plays of characters. The Snake's hood is only a witness, the True Self that I AM. And that is how a snake behaves when it notices movement.

By worshipping this Shiva Linga, I accept the Universe I have created and I remember that I AM that I AM, unattached. Its a game that will play itself out until the Universe empties itself out at which point, the Universe will dissolve in itself.